Tangled Up in You
by Nytel
Summary: Lee reacts to the news that Kara has been frakking Hot Dog. Despite how this may seem, it's KaraLee, but many other pairings are mentioned. Spoilers up to 217. After that it's AU. Originally this was supposed to be only one chapter, but things change.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Spoilers up to 217!**

**Tangled Up in You**

Maybe frakking Hot Dog hadn't been her best idea. But he was a good lay, and that's what she had wanted. Anders was gone, dead, and she had needed something to keep her mind off of him, at least for a little while. That something, more like someone, had been Hot Dog. It was supposed to have been a one-time thing, but he was a _really_ good lay, one with no strings attached. Kara just wished that they could have been a bit more discreet about it.

* * *

"Captain Thrace," Lee said, his voice filled with underlying hostility. 

Kara pulled her head out of her locker and turned to face him. "Commander Adama sir," she replied with a quick salute. Normally she would have been happy to see him, but he had that look on his face, he was picking for a fight. "To what do I owe the honor?" She tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice, she really did.

He smirked at her, he was really mad. "Oh, the honor is all mine _Captain_."

Kara raised her eyebrow questioningly. "Really…"

He stepped closer to her; he was almost inside of her personal space. But they had enough practice at this and he merely right on the edge. "Yes, really. I hear you're a pretty popular person lately."

Kara couldn't stop her eyes from narrowing in preview to her anger.

"Especially, with your nuggets." Lee spat out the last word, like the taste of it on his tongue was offensive.

She quickly turned around and began rummaging through her locker again. "Don't you have a girlfriend to be visiting?" Her voice was tense.

Lee let out a sarcastic laugh. "What? You don't want to talk about your newfound popularity with the nuggets? Or should I say, one nugget?"

Kara spun around so fast, she was surprised she didn't hit her head on her locker door. "It's none of your gods damned business."

Lee didn't even flinch. "Oh," he said. "So you know what I'm talking about." It wasn't a question.

She didn't even have to reply; her body posture conveyed her answer.

He leaned in closer, until he was only a few inches away from her face. She could see the hatred in his eyes. "Just like old times."

Before Kara even knew what was happening, she had thrown the punch. Luckily for Lee he had been anticipating it and blocked. If he hadn't, he might have been missing a few teeth.

"Don't you dare bring Zak into this!" Kara screamed, completely losing control.

Lee suddenly grabbed both of Kara's arms, raised them above her head and pinned her against the nearest locker, which was ironically enough Hot Dog's.

"Why not Kara?" Lee questioned, using his body weight to crush her frame against the unyielding metal. When she didn't answer he said, "So I guess I shouldn't bring Sam into this either."

Kara started fighting Lee's hold the moment she heard Sam's name pass from his lips. Unfortunately Lee was in a much better position to keep her there than she was to get free.

"This isn't about them Lee," she said venomously, not daring to meet his eyes.

He let out another cold laugh. "Then what's it about Kara?"

Screw this; she didn't have to answer him. She just stared at a spot on the bunk across the room. Eventually he would leave… or not, Kara thought as Lee pulled her wrists towards him a bit before slamming them back into the locker.

"Answer me Kara." He was so close. His clean-shaven cheek was brushing against hers.

When she still didn't respond, he repeated his actions and screamed. "Answer me!"

Kara felt her heart begin to race in fear; she had never seen Lee so angry before. She was terrified. "Lee, you're hurting me," she whispered in a shaky voice.

Immediately he released most of the pressure on her wrists, and he shifted so that he was no longer pressing her into the locker with all of his weight. "Sorry," he said, his voice barely loud enough to hear. "I just want to know why."

"I don't owe you anything Lee."

He clenched his jaw in frustration, but thankfully his grip on her remained loose. "Kara…" he began.

"Fine," she said, turning her head slightly to meet his gaze. "It's just sex, that's all it is."

He released his hold on her, and stepped away like he had been burned. "Just sex?" He asked. "It's never just sex with you Kara. Zak was just sex too remember? And Anders, that was supposed to be just sex."

Kara didn't know how to respond. It was true, both Zak and Anders were supposed to have been casual flings. "What do you want from me Lee?"

He sighed and leaned against a bunk. "I want you to stop frakking around with your pilots."

She just stared at him for a long time. "You're kidding right?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, "No, I'm not kidding."

Kara laughed, "You must be kidding."

Lee scowled at her, "I'm not kidding Kara. I could make it an order."

"Oh that is so frakking rich, you'd give me an order to stop fraternizing with my pilots? Look in the mirror Lee, I'm not the only one frakking around with people under my command."

His anger was back in full force. "Dee and I are different!"

"No you're not!" Kara screamed.

"Yes, it's different, because…I love Dee."

Kara was surprised by his words. Maybe he did love his girlfriend, but the way he hesitated and the uncaring way in which he said it, made it seem like the words were meant purely to spite her. And they did. He may not have meant what he said; yet hearing it still made her feel like she had been punched in the gut. But she wouldn't falter, not now, not here, and definitely not in front of Lee.

"What about Stinger and Showboat then, huh? They're frakking, you and I both know it. We also both know that it's not love, it's sex."

"That's different," Lee stammered out.

Kara shook her head in disbelief. "No it's not Lee, stop lying to yourself." He made to talk, but she cut him off. "No Lee, the only thing that's different is that you are jealous of him. You're jealous of Hot Dog. You wish that it was you frakking me into oblivion every night instead of him."

He stared at her in shock, she was pretty sure that she had never been this blunt with him before.

She took one step closer to him, looking straight into his eyes. "Same as it was with Anders… and with Zak."

The last thing that she saw before she turned and headed out of the bunkroom, was the look of realization dawning on Lee's face. Maybe he had finally seen the truth.

The End

**A/N: Feedback is always appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

One week later…

Kara was standing in front of her open locker when she heard the hatch open and shut behind her. She had been experiencing a creepy sense of déjà vu until she heard the hatch lock. It couldn't be Lee then.

She was about to turn around when she felt a strong pair of arms encircle her waist from behind, and a pair of lips descend on her neck. _Nope_, she thought, _definitely not Lee_. His hands immediately found their way underneath her double tanks. Within seconds one of his hands had slipped underneath her sports bra, and he began fingering her nipple. When his other hand pushed past the top of her sweatpants Kara pulled herself out of Hot Dog's hold.

"What?" he asked, sounding offended.

Kara slammed her locker shut. "Did I say that I wanted to frak?"

Hot Dog gave her a puzzled look. "No. But you were in here all by yourself, and I thought that I wouldn't let the opportunity pass me by."

Kara snorted.

"What?" he asked as he flopped down onto a nearby bunk, obviously not caring that it wasn't his. "I've hardly seen you all week. And, you know, since we're frak buddies and I wanted to get laid, I came to find you. Is there something wrong with that?"

She sighed and leaned her back against her locker. "No."

"Ok then," Hot Dog said as he jumped up off the bunk and started to come towards her.

"Hey," she said angrily. "That doesn't mean that I'm going to frak you."

She watched as he threw his hands up in frustration and flopped back down onto the bunk.

If her previous conversation with Lee hadn't been weighing on her mind, Kara would have given in and helped to put Hot Dog out of his obvious misery.

After a few moments of quiet she said, "You know that this is just sex right?" She felt rather stupid saying it, but she needed to make sure that she wasn't leading him on.

He looked up at her from where he was laying. "Yeah," he said. "That's what you said the first time."

"Good," Kara said as she pushed herself away from her locker and headed towards the door. "I just wanted to make sure that you weren't developing feelings or anything."

She stopped walking when she heard him laugh. "Like I would ever develop feelings for _Starbuck._"

Kara knew that he hadn't meant anything by it, but Hot Dog's words still made her eyes sting with tears. She unlocked the hatch and walked out.

* * *

Lee sat at his desk, staring at the wall opposite him. It had been a rough day… hell, it had been a rough week. He'd been feeling all kinds of weird ever since his latest conversation, or more accurately fight, with Kara. Their entire exchange was replaying itself over, and over again in his mind.

He ran a hand through his lengthening hair and looked down at the paperwork on his desk. He really needed to get it all done. Grudgingly he went back to work. When after five minutes he hadn't even read one page, Lee threw his pen across the room. It hit the wall and fell to the ground, thankfully not breaking. But throwing it still didn't make him feel any better.

When Lee had gone to Galactica a week ago he hadn't even been planning on seeing Kara. He had needed to talk to his father and Colonel Tigh about some things, and then visit Dee before returning to Pegasus. But when he had heard two deckhands gossiping about Kara and her latest conquest, he had snapped.

Before Lee had even known what he was about to do, he found himself entering the senior pilots bunkroom. He had been mad, angry, pissed off, whatever you wanted to call it… and jealous. Gods, he had been so frakking jealous. It had been such a long time since he had felt that, and he didn't even realize what emotion it was until Kara had so bluntly pointed it out to him. But the thing that bothered him the most was that he had no right to be jealous; in fact he had every right not to be.

But this was Kara, and everything with her just had to be so frakking difficult. They'd been that way ever since he had met her back in his academy days. She'd been his roommate, his friend. They could have easily been more had Lee not been so immersed in his studies.

Everything came so naturally to Kara: combat, tactics, just plain old flying. Lee worked his ass off day in and day out to be that good. And it had shown in everything that he did. He was always studying, he never went out, never partied, but more importantly never took the time to see what was right there in front of him.

Two weeks before basic flight ended Kara had come onto him, strong. He had never even realized that she had fallen for him. Now he could read the past clear as day, but back then it had been a shock. Lee had turned her down, telling her that he thought of her as his friend. She had seemed fine with it, and then after flight school they went their separate ways.

War College was completely different; there he couldn't stop thinking about Kara. Since he had then realized that she was most definitely an option, he decided to pursue it. On his first semester break he was going to Caprica to visit his baby brother, and while he was there he'd find Kara. Then he'd take her out and show her how he felt.

But the gods must have hated him; because when he arrived one day early at Zak's apartment, Kara had greeted him wearing nothing but a T-shirt. It wasn't her appearance that shocked him, (he'd seen her naked before), it was the fact that she was in his brother's apartment. Zak had told him in a previous letter that he was having a casual fling with another pilot; Lee just hadn't been aware that the casual fling was Kara.

Lee knew he couldn't make his move then so he decided to wait. It was just sex right? They'd end it, and Lee could have his second chance. Apparently not, because before he knew it Kara was Zak's girlfriend. Lee had missed his opportunity.

He got over her, or he thought he did. Then Zak's death came so unexpectedly. After the funeral they didn't see each other for two years. And when they did finally meet up again, Lee felt all of his old feelings flare up. He hated himself for that, for wanting his dead brother's girl. So he shoved those feelings aside, and tried to forget about them again. But it wasn't so easy with Kara around him all the time.

Then she had come onto him again, this time during her continuous battle against Scar. Lee finally let his feelings guide his actions, and that had lead to disaster. To her he was just a good lay to help her forget about the man she frakked on Caprica, even though Lee saw the potential for so much more.

So Lee had turned to Dee, letting him forget Kara again. Then Anders returned and Lee thought that things were going well. Kara was happy with her Caprica frak, and he had let go of all his feelings for her, and instead focused on creating a relationship with Dee. He'd done so well, even turning down Kara's advances when Anders had died. He thought he had gotten over her completely…that is until last week.

But apparently he hadn't and he was just very good at self-deception.

Yet he was still happy with Dee. She was fun, she was calm…she was safe. Lee could trust her not to shatter his heart into a million little pieces. However that didn't mean that he loved her. Sure he'd mentioned it to Kara, but if he was being honest, he did it because he knew it would make her mad. The thing was he'd never actually said the words to Dee, and he didn't think he could. She deserved better than a lying boyfriend.

Lee ran his hands through his hair again. He wished more than anything that his life wasn't so frakking complicated.

Looking at the clock on his desk, he noticed the time. He stood up quickly, grabbing a few documents. He was late for his meeting with his father and the president on Galactica.

* * *

Kara took a swing at the punching bag. She had the satisfaction of feeling the solid contact. She swung again, this time with her left. Even with the gloves on, her hands were beginning to hurt, but that was fine by her. The pain helped her to concentrate, to focus on just the bag. She was trying to forget about everything else: about how screwed up her life was.

Eventually she had to take a break. Kara sat down at a bench against the wall, picking up her water bottle from the floor. She downed half of it in one gulp.

Kara wished that she had someone to work out with; it was too lonely being in the gym by herself. It used to be her and Helo, nearly every day, but he had been transferred over to Pegasus.

At one time she might have worked out with Lee but he had stopped being that kind of close friend a long time ago, about the time that the resistance joined the fleet. Then he had the gall to take away the only friend she had left after Sam's death.

Realistically Kara knew that Pegasus had been short on ECOs and that Helo was needed over there more than he was needed on Galactica. She also knew that Lee probably hadn't much of a say in the transfers, and that it was in fact Admiral Adama who she should be mad at. But she didn't care; she would be irrational and blame Lee if she wanted to. Blaming her ex-best friend felt like an even better decision in the aftermath of their fight.

Damn, that had been what she was trying to get out of her head. Well frak him for getting so mixed up in her life. Ever since they had met back in their academy days he had been a part of her life, and a part of her. She knew that was never going to change no matter how much either of them wanted it to.

She sighed heavily and leaned back so that her head hit the wall with a resounding thud. Things were just too damn complicated.

* * *

Lee sat anxiously in Galactica's conference room, only half listening to his father and the president drone on about supply runs. The topic might be boring, but it was very important to the fleet. He knew that he should be paying close attention, but he just couldn't.

On the way to the meeting Lee had done what he figured would turn out to be the best, or stupidest thing that he had ever done in his life. His thoughts drifted even more away from the meeting, and began to really dwell on the potentially stupid thing he had done.

During the raptor flight over he had made a decision. He would break up with Dee and pursue Kara until she caved. At the time it had seemed like the most brilliant plan. If he would never be able to get over Kara, then why try? At least that had been his logic. So Lee had bummed a piece of paper off the ECO, and using the pen in his jacket pocket he had written Kara a note.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the persistent voices of both the president and his father.

"Lee!" his dad said.

At the same time President Roslin said, "Commander Apollo, are you alright?"

Lee shook his head to help bring his mind back to the present situation. He sat up a bit straighter in his chair. "I'm fine Madam President."

His words were met with puzzled looks from both of them. "Lee," his father began. "We've been asking you questions for the last two minutes, and you've answered yes to ever single one of them."

Lee didn't remember answering any questions, but he decided to fake it. "What's wrong with that?"

He was surprised when the president laughed quite loudly. "Commander Apollo, near the end we were asking you quite a few…bizarre questions, to see if you were paying attention."

He fought the blush that threatened to appear on his cheeks. "So?"

This time it was his father who laughed. "Just give up son, we know that you weren't paying attention." Lee opened his mouth to talk but was interrupted. "The last question we asked you was 'Do you think that we should invite the cylons to the Colonial Day celebration?'"

Then Lee actually did blush. "I'm sorry," he said. "I guess I was a bit distracted."

"Now that's an understatement," Adama said.

Lee sat up even straighter and brought his attention to the documents lying on the table in front of him. "Where were we?"

His words were greeted by two sets of laughter. "What!" he said angrily. He had no idea what had gotten into the two of them. So he was a bit distracted, it wasn't funny.

When the president finally got herself under control she said, "You can leave Commander. Your father and I can finish up here."

He knew that it was his duty to stay, but he couldn't help himself. "Are you sure?" He was a little disappointed that he sounded so eager.

"Of course Lee, go on," was his father's response.

The president gave him a warm smile. "You're too young to be stuck up in these types of meetings anyways."

"Thank you," Lee said, his voice very sincere. Then he stood up and left the room before either of them could change their minds.

As he closed the hatch behind him he couldn't help but think about how lucky he was. In fact, this was just perfect. He would have enough time to find Dee and break things off with her before he met up with Kara.

He walked with purpose down the halls. Lee knew that Dee was off shift and that she'd probably be in the gym working out. Hopefully he could catch her alone.

Just as he rounded the last corner he saw her exiting the gym. Immediately Dee noticed him and headed straight over.

"Hey you," she said as she reached him.

He gave her a halfhearted smile. "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?"

She looked up at him. "Sure," she said. "But in a little while. First, you look like you need some cheering up."

Before Lee even registered what was happening Dee had pulled his head down to hers for a very passionate kiss.

* * *

_Kara,_

_I'm sorry about before. I was being a jealous bastard. Hopefully you'll find it in yourself to forgive me and meet me in the observation deck at 1900. There is something very important that we need to talk about._

_Lee_

Kara stared in disbelief at the note she was holding in her hand. This had to be some kind of joke. There was no way that Lee had written her this note. Well, she might have been able to believe that except for the fact that this was definitely Lee's writing.

She sat down heavily on her bunk as she tried to figure out what this could be about. They had begun their fall from friendship just after Kara had returned from her rescue mission with Sam and the resistance in tow. And since Sam's death they had barely spoken to each other at all, except for their fight a week ago. But here was this note, from Lee, saying that they needed to talk.

Kara read the note again, pausing at the line about him being a jealous bastard Yep, he definitely had been. Actually she was very surprised that he had admitted to it. Wait … he admitted that he was jealous. Kara felt her pulse quicken as hope flowed through her veins.

She had known that Lee was jealous, but now he was admitting to it. Kara wiped her suddenly sweaty palms on her sweatpants, and she let the note flutter down onto her bunk. She couldn't help but wonder what all of this meant. She knew what she wanted it to mean, but she had given up hope on Lee a long time ago. But maybe she shouldn't have, maybe this was what she had been waiting for all along: the moment of truth between them.

Kara picked up the note and placed it carefully inside a book on the shelf above her bed. Then she stood on shaky legs, and walked out of the bunkroom.

She shouldn't be this nervous. It was Lee for frak sakes. Well actually, that would be the entire reason for why she was so nervous.

Glancing down at her watch Kara noticed that she had just over half an hour until she was supposed to meet Lee. She just kept walking, heading towards the observation deck. She'd be early, but that was fine; she wasn't going to be late for this.

Kara was almost there. She just had to make a turn, walk past the gym, turn one last time and she'd be at the observation deck. As she came around the second to last corner, she saw a sight that stopped her in her tracks.

There was Lee standing outside of the gym, talking to Dee. Kara was too far away to hear what they were saying, but she was definitely able to see Dee reach up and pull Lee down for a very heated kiss.

Immediately Kara spun on her heel and headed back the way that she had come. Tears were threatening to spill from her eyes the second time that day, but she wouldn't let them. She swore to herself after the last time that Lee Adama would never make her cry again.

She had been so stupid to make assumptions about what Lee had meant. What had she been thinking? He didn't want a screw up; not when he could have a perfect and beautiful woman instead.

By the time that Kara had reached the senior pilots quarters she was no longer sad. She was angry: angry with herself for not being good enough, and angry with Lee for getting her hopes up and then crushing them. There was obviously nobody left in the universe that did want her, so she would just have to resign herself to a life of meaningless sex.

Opening the hatch and stepping through, she was very pleased to see that Hot Dog was the only one there. She hastily spun the lock shut behind her and then crossed the room to where he was leaning against his locker.

"Hey," he said. "Are you ok? You look …"

Kara grabbed his face between her hands and pulled his head down for a brutally hard kiss. It hurt, and she knew that her lips would be bruised, but the pain felt good.

Eventually she released him.

"Starbuck, I though you said…"

She glared at him. "Just shut up and frak me."

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Hot Dog died two days later.

Lee had known that two of the pilots in the last firefight had died; he had just been unaware of which ones. After he had heard from Stinger that Kara was fine, Lee didn't think much about the loss. It seemed a bit heartless even to him, but the death of viper pilots was a bitter reality. He had just been glad that it wasn't Kara.

However when he found out that Hot Dog had been one of those pilots, he suddenly felt bad. Not really for Hot Dog, although he supposed he should have, but more for Kara. She took it hard when any of the pilots died, and Lee supposed that it would be even worse considering which specific pilot it had been.

So after his father had told him, Lee went off in search of Kara. He hoped that he'd be able to find her within the next hour or so because that was how long he had until his raptor left to go back to Pegasus. Thankfully he had a pretty good idea where she'd be.

He hoped that this would go well between them, because he definitely didn't want to upset Kara anymore, but knowing them… And there was the fact that she hadn't come to meet him in the observation deck like he'd asked her to. Not that he really blamed her for that though; she had every reason to still be furious with him. He just hoped that with time he could change that.

Sure enough Lee found her sitting on the walkway overlooking the flight deck, her legs stuck between the bars of the railing, dangling over the edge, and her forehead leaning against the cool metal.

He climbed up the ladder and approached her slowly, waiting to see how she'd react to his presence. When she didn't do anything he walked up until he was only a foot away from her.

"Hey."

* * *

Kara heard his voice, soft, tentative and sweet, but she didn't respond. She stared down at the hanger deck hoping that her silence would give Lee a reason to leave. She was not in the mood for anything that had to do with that man.

When he sat down beside her anyways, mimicking her position, she shifted slightly so that her body was somewhat turned away from him. He didn't say anything for a long time. He just sat there, letting his feet hang over the ledge just like hers. Kara decided that she'd wait him out; eventually he'd have to go back to his ship. But apparently he had other plans.

"Listen," he said softly. "I know that it's hard to lose someone… especially someone that you really care about."

She turned to stare at him in shock. Oh he did not just…

Kara smacked him upside the back of the head, hard. Actually it was probably too hard because it sent his head smashing into the railing.

"What the frak!" he shouted as he rubbed his forehead.

"You're such a bastard," she managed to spit out. "You honestly think that's what I'm doing, mourning my dead lover?"

He looked at her cautiously, still rubbing his head. "Well, yeah."

It took all of her self-restraint not to smack him again. "Idiot," she muttered viciously as she turned to look down at the flight deck again.

A few tense moments later he asked, "So you're not upset about Hot Dog?"

She whirled her head around to face him. "Of course I'm upset Lee. He was my friend, and he was my nugget. I was responsible for training him, and he died. I can't help but feel guilty about that. But if you think that's the only reason I'm up here like this, then you are frakked in the head."

"What else are you upset about?" he asked quietly.

She looked at him, her mouth wide open in shock. "What else! Let's see Lee, my entire life sucks. I have a job that I don't want; you know the one that comes with all of the responsibility that I don't want either. There's the fact that I'm alone on this frakking ship, because you took away the only friend I had left after you abandoned me." She paused for a moment, gripping the bars tightly and looking away. "Oh and yes, here's the real kicker. A man I loved died five months ago, making it the second time I've lost a fiancé."

Her fingers were beginning to go numb but she didn't pay it any attention. She did not want to be having this conversation, especially not with her ex-best friend. Actually… she turned to glare at him. "Why the frak are you here anyways?"

He looked at her intently, not answering verbally, but she could see his feelings clearly on his face.

Within a second she had jumped to her feet and was scowling at him so fiercely that it hurt. "This is so frakking great," she yelled as he scrambled to get to his feet too. "The past five months I've been going through hell, and you decide that you're going to care _now_!"

He gave her a pleading look as he gently took hold of her arm. "Kara, I'm so sorry."

She pulled out of his grasp like his touch was burning her. She shook her head in disbelief. "I cannot believe that you're doing this, not now. You lost your right to feel sorry for me a long time ago." Her voice was quiet, but there was no mistaking the fury in it.

She crossed her arms over her chest as she glared at him. "You know what Lee? I don't need you. You've done your stupid duty, the CAG is fine, now just leave."

He sighed and she saw his shoulder sag a bit. "That's not why I'm here Kara. I didn't come as your commanding officer, I came as your friend."

"You are not my friend!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, tears stinging in her eyes. "I don't need you. I came into this world alone, and I'll go out of it alone."

Suddenly Lee closed the gap between them and grabbed onto both of her arms, just above her elbows. She tried to pull away, but he wouldn't let her. "Kara please tell me you're not…"

She shook her head, keeping her gaze firmly on the floor. When she spoke it was in a shaky whisper. "I'm not suicidal Lee."

He breathed a deep sigh of relief and loosened his hold on her slightly. "Then why'd you say it Kara?"

She pulled her right arm out of Lee's grasp and wiped away a stray tear from her cheek before she responded. "Because that's how I feel Lee, like I'm alone in this frakking universe and nobody cares about me."

"Kara," he whispered, his voice sad and sweet at the same time. He slowly moved his hands so that they were cupping her face. Then he tilted her head up so that he could finally look into her eyes. "That's not true."

She had to keep blinking back tears. "Yes it is," she said trying to sound angry. But she didn't succeed; her voice was too shaky.

"No it's not," he said softly. He used one of his thumbs to brush away another tear that had managed to escape. "Because I care about you."

It was like his words had caused something to shift inside of her. She knew that she should be mad at him and that she should still hate him. But she couldn't. She needed him too much, even if it was only as a friend.

She threw herself into his arms and began to sob uncontrollably into his shoulder, letting out months and months of emotion.

If he was surprised he didn't show it. Instead he just held her tightly and rubbed his hand up and down her back soothingly. She buried her face into his neck and clutched at his jacket, afraid that he might disappear again.

He seemed to know exactly what she was thinking, because he tightened his arms around her and whispered comforting words into her hair. That just made her cry even harder. She had been so focused on hating Lee that she had forgotten why she missed him so much in the first place.

Eventually the tears stopped, but she waited a few moments before finally pulling out of Lee's embrace.

"Sorry about that," she said when she noticed the tear stained patch on his uniform. "I didn't mean to get your fancy commander jacket all wet." She was doing what she always did, using humor as a distraction. But it just wasn't working. She crossed her arms in front of her again, and looked down at the floor.

That didn't last for long. Lee stepped towards her and used his finger to tilt her chin up until he was meeting her gaze again. "You ok?" he asked quietly.

She took a deep breath before replying. "Yeah, I think I am." And she meant it. Somehow the two of them had just managed to fall back into the friendship that she had been so sorely missing.

He pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. "Good."

She tried to pull out of his reach, but he just tightened his arms around her. "Lee, you have to go."

"No I don't," he muttered into her hair.

"Yes you do," she said, managing to get away. "You're raptor is leaving without you."

He glanced over the top of her head. "So it is. I guess I'll just have to catch the next one."

She sighed. "Lee, as nice as this is, you have somewhere else you need to be."

"No I don't," he said seriously.

"Oh," she said.

Lee walked the few steps over to the railing and leaned against it, looking down onto the nearly deserted flight deck. Kara did the same. Their shoulders were barely brushing against each other, but the touch was still comforting.

When her stomach growled loudly they both laughed.

"You haven't eaten since we jumped six hours ago, have you?"

She shook her head. "Nope. And now I'm starving."

He gave her that warm Adama smile as he pushed himself away from the railing. "Well, I've got just under an hour and a half until the last raptor leaves for Pegasus tonight, so why don't we go get something to eat?"

She smiled back at him. "Sounds good to me."

They ended up back in her office, opting for more private settings than the mess. Kara sat down on the couch and Lee followed. They ate in silence for the most part, simply enjoying each other's company. Eventually they both finished eating their food, (she thought is was supposed to be lasagna), and they stacked their plates on the small table beside the couch.

Surprisingly it was Kara who spoke first. "Why did we let it get this far Lee?" She turned to look at him, awaiting his answer.

He exhaled deeply. "Because I'm an ass." He didn't meet her gaze.

"That's it?"

He turned to look at her. "Yeah," he said sounding very sure of himself. "You thought there was another reason?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I thought maybe it was something I said… or did."

"Gods no. You didn't do anything wrong Kara."

"Are you sure?" she asked hesitantly meeting his gaze. She didn't think she had, but she wanted to know if she did.

He shook his head lightly before reaching out to grasp her hand in his. "I'm sure." He gave her hand a tight squeeze before releasing it.

Kara sat there for sometime, just thinking about how quickly things had changed between them. She didn't even notice that they weren't talking until Lee's voice filled the air. "I broke up with Dee."

She turned to look at him in shock. "What?" she asked, trying to comprehend what he just said. "I mean that last time I saw the two of you, you seemed quite _happy_." She couldn't stop a hint of bitterness from creeping into her voice.

He gave her an odd look before replying. "Well I guess she was happy."

"But you weren't?"

"No," he said truthfully. "But I tried to convince myself that I was."

Kara opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again quickly. It wasn't her place to question him.

"Go ahead," he said, leaning forward to rest elbows on knees. "Say it."

She tucked one leg underneath her and turned to face him. Maybe she shouldn't ask, but she just couldn't help herself. "Why'd you let it go on for so long then? You guys have been together for what, almost a year. If you weren't happy then why'd you wait until now to call it off?"

Lee sighed and ran his hands through his hair like he often did when he was frustrated or confused. "Because for the most part I really thought I was happy. I thought that'd I had managed to forget about this other girl. It turns out I couldn't."

"Oh," Kara said tried to sound indifferent. She shifted so that she was facing the wall opposite to the couch. She brought her feet up onto the cushion and pulled her knees tightly against her chest. "So there's another girl," she said, her voice dropping off to a whisper. She shouldn't care about this; Lee wasn't hers. Too bad logic didn't work well in situations like this.

She could hear the confusion in Lee's voice. "Yeah, there's another girl."

Kara rested her chin on top of her knees. A part of her desperately wanted to know who this other girl was, but another part thought maybe it was best if she didn't know.

She started to fiddle with the bottom edge of her sweatpants. It shouldn't matter to her. Lee was her friend, and she wanted him to be happy. She decided that it was best if she played the role of the supportive friend, after all that's what she was to Lee, just a friend.

"So," she said after clearing her throat. "You must really like this other girl huh?" She turned to look at him, and was surprised to see that he looked puzzled by her question.

"Yeah."

"Does she have a name?" Kara asked as calmly as she could.

Lee's eyebrows knit together in confusion. "What?"

"Does she have a name?" Kara said, talking very slowly. "Or am I just not privileged enough to find out what it is?"

He was still looking confused. "You mean you don't know who I'm talking about?"

Kara shook her head. "Am I supposed to?"

She was very surprised when Lee laughed.

"What?" she asked. "Is it like blatantly obvious? Am I missing something really big here Lee? Because, you know what…" but she was cut off when Lee's lips were suddenly pressing against hers.

She immediately kissed back, but only for a few seconds. That's how long it took her to fully realize what was happening. This was Lee, her best friend. She just got him back and she'd be damned if she was going to let him screw up their friendship like this, especially not when he was pining over some other woman.

Kara pulled away abruptly and glared at Lee. "Why the frak did you just do that?" she asked in an extremely shaky voice, something she wasn't very proud of. Shifting so that she was as far away from him as she could manage on the small couch, she pulled her knees tighter against her chest.

He still had that same confused look on his face. "What's wrong?" he asked, genuinely concerned.

She took a deep breath before responding. "Lee, I won't let you do this."

Kara watched as he let out a defeated sigh, and sagged back against the couch. She thought for a second that she saw a tear in the corner of his eye, but she knew she must be wrong.

"We're friends," she began. "But I'm not going to let you frak me so that you can forget about the other girl." She tried not to let him see how much the thought of being used like that hurt.

As soon as the words were out of her mouth he was sitting up and turning to face her. "Is that what you think I'm doing Kara? You think I'm using you?" He sounded pained and happy at the same time. She'd never get how he managed that.

Not knowing how to respond she just sat there. Wasn't that what he had been doing?

He was slowly leaning towards her. She tried backing up, but she was already at the end of the couch. It didn't take long before his face was only inches in front of hers. Then his hands were on either side of her face, cradling it gently.

Kara's heart was racing. Lee was close, probably too close. In fact she was sprawled out underneath him on the couch now. If he shifted just the tiniest bit he would be laying completely on top her. She held back a shudder at the thought of how good that would feel.

"Kara," he whispered softly, making her tremble.

"What?" she whispered back, since she had no idea what else to say.

"Look at me," he said. Kara slowly shifted her gaze from his chin to his eyes. When their gazes did look Kara trembled again, this time under the pure intensity of his look. "Who do you think the other girl is?" he asked, keeping his voice to a whisper.

"I…" she began. "I don't know." Her hands were shaking now. She pressed them down against the couch to still them.

Lee smiled at her. "Why don't I tell you."

She nodded her head, but just barely.

When Lee brushed his lips softly against hers, Kara closed her eyes instinctively. What really surprised her was when he kept kissing her. He kissed down the side of her face, then to her neck where he let his lips hovered over her pulse point. He paused there for a few seconds, and his warm breath against her skin was utterly distracting. Kara knew there was something they were supposed to be talking about, but for the life of her she couldn't remember, not when he was doing that.

He finally pressed his lips against her neck, and Kara let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. When he started to suck on her neck, her breath hitched in her throat. She tilted her head back giving him better access.

Eventually his lips made it down to the place where skin met tank. When he reached up with his hand to pull the fabric out of the way Kara sat up with a jolt, and shoving Lee off of her in the process.

"Me?" she managed to squeak out, finally figuring out what Lee had been 'telling' her.

He looked a little startled by her outburst, but he seemed amused too. Grinning up at her from where he was laying, wedged between her and the back of the couch, he said, "You."

Her mind was still reeling from the realization. "The other girl is…me?"

He chuckled as he sat up and pulled her into a sitting position beside him. "Of course it's you Kara. Who else would it be?"

She shrugged her shoulders, _still_ trying to wrap her mind around what was happening. "I don't know. I just didn't think it was me." She turned to look at him as she said this, and she didn't even try to stop the smile from spreading across her face.

He reached out and gently brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. "It's always been you Kara. Why do you think I left you that note the other day?"

It took Kara a moment to switch gears and realize what note he was talking about. "You mean the one where you said you were a jealous bastard?"

He smiled at her. "So you did get it."

She nodded. "Yep."

"Kara you had every right to be mad at me, but why didn't you meet me? I at least thought you'd come."

She felt her smile falter. "I went to meet you Lee…"

He shook his head sadly. "No you didn't. I waited for three hours Kara. You never showed up."

"Hey," she said. "Let me finish." He nodded. "I was on my way to meet you, but then I saw you and… Dee, outside the gym."

"You saw us?" he asked, sounding astonished.

Kara nodded. "Yeah. I thought your note meant one thing, but then when I saw you with her I knew I was wrong."

He looked at her intently. "What did you think it meant?"

Immediately her gaze fell to the floor. "I thought it meant that… well I hoped it meant that you wanted me." She said, letting her voice drop of quietly with the last two words.

"Kara," he said quietly as he began to rub his hand up and down her arm. "That's exactly what it meant. I was breaking up with Dee and then I was going to meet you."

"Wait," Kara said looking up at him again. "You left me that note, and then you broke up with your girlfriend."

He didn't answer, merely nodded.

"You idiot!" she said angrily. "Don't you think you should have broken up with her first?"

The look on Lee's face as he realized his mistake was almost comical. He groaned and buried his face in his hands. "Gods, I am an idiot."

"Yep." She said, now smiling at him. He definitely was an idiot, but he was her idiot now.

"Kara," he replied, trying to sound angry, but not succeeding.

"What?" she asked jokingly. "I'm only agreeing with you."

He let out another groan and closed his eyes as he let his head flop against the back of the couch. When he opened one eye to look at her, she was staring straight at him and she was smiling so hard that it hurt. He grinned too.

"So where do we go from here?" he asked, turning his head to look at her.

"Well," she said seriously as she stood up. "I say we go right back to where we left off." She was standing directly in front of him now.

"And where would that be?" he asked in a would be innocent voice.

She straddled his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Right here." Then she leaned down and kissed him full on the lips, none of that screwing around like he had been doing.

He responded immediately and deepened the kiss. Kara shifted her weight so that she her chest was fully pressed against Lee's. She also tightened her grip on him, running one hand possessively through his hair.

Initially he had both of his hands on her hips, pulling her closer to him, but now they were beginning to wander, and with increasing intensity. One was entangled in her loose hair, and the other was cupping her ass through her sweatpants.

Kara let out a low moan when Lee began to suck on her bottom lip, teasing it with his teeth and lips. "Lee," she breathed out heavily.

"Kara," he responded in much the same way as he nipped her lower lip one last time before focusing all his attention on her neck. "Mine," he whispered softly against her skin.

Kara was surprised by how thrilled she was to hear that, not to mention turned on. She never thought that she would enjoy the thought of being 'owned' by someone, but this was Lee.

She arched her back and tilted her head back, leaving him with better access to the sensitive skin on her neck, which he willingly took advantage of. Kara let out a gasp and arched her back even more when he found the perfect spot with his mouth. "Lee," she pleaded, needing him to keep going.

The skin on Kara's neck was by far the most sensitive spot on her body. Most of her lovers and frak buddies hadn't known that, but she was so glad that Lee had figured it out. He had put her right on the frakking edge. She was so close …

Then he moved his lips in just the right way and she clenched both of her hands tightly in his hair as she came.

Collapsing against him heavily, she let out a sigh of utter satisfaction. She was sure that no one else had ever had this effect on her before.

"Mmm," she muttered into his hair as she drew lazy circles on his shoulders.

He chuckled against her neck, and the vibrations sent tingles down her spine. "You liked that did you?" She could tell that he was grinning without even having to look at him.

"Shut up," she said, trying to sound serious but failing miserably.

"What?" he asked in a teasing voice as he pulled back to look at her face. "Not good enough?"

She just smirked and scrunched her nose at him.

He laughed. "Well in that case…" And the next thing Kara knew she was lying underneath Lee, pressed into the length of the couch by his body weight. She immediately felt her heart rate increase. She thought that before had been good, but nothing compared to the feeling of being pinned on her back by Lee. This was insane though, they were both still fully clothed; something that she intended to change.

Lee kissed her with an amazing intensity and with what she recognized as pent up desire. It too perfectly matched her own.

Kara's fingers were fumbling with the buttons on Lee's uniform just as his hands were finding their way underneath her tanks. He slide his hands up along her sides, causing her tanks to move up until they were bunched just beneath her breasts.

Just as Kara got the last button undone and Lee began to pull the tanks over her head, the phone beeped.

Lee pulled back and groaned at the interruption before dropping his head down onto her shoulder. "Don't answer," he muttered into her shoulder as it beeped a second time.

"Lee…"

"Just leave it Kara," he said, lifting his head so that he could kiss her neck again.

"I'm sorry," she said as it beeped again. She somehow managed to squirm halfway out from under Lee before reaching for the phone on the wall. Luckily it was directly beside the couch and she didn't have to actually get up to answer it.

"Captain Thrace," she said brusquely. She just wanted to get this conversation over with so that she could go back to what she had been doing.

"Kara," came the voice over the phone.

"Sir," she said in a very surprised voice. She pulled herself all the way out from under Lee and stood up in front of the couch. "What can I do for you?"

She heard the admiral sigh. "I was wondering if …" But the rest of what he said didn't register because someone was too busy distracting her.

Lee was sitting on the couch now, but he had pulled her forward by the waist so that she was standing between his legs. Still holding onto her hips he began to place light, but very distracting kisses all over her stomach. She tried to twist out of his reach, but he just tightened his grip.

"Kara?" came the suddenly loud voice in her ear.

"What?" she asked, momentarily confused. "I'm sorry sir. What did you say?"

"Are you alright Kara?"

"Yes sir, I'm…" Lee was still kissing her stomach. She tried to push his head away with her one hand, but he was too determined. "…fine."

"You seem distracted."

"Nope," she said, shaking her head to emphasize her point even though she knew that he couldn't actually see her. "I'm fine."

Kara nearly jumped when Lee muttered her name against her stomach. She tried pulling away again, but just like the first time it was pointless. He pulled her even closer and whispered, "Mine." She felt a strong rush of desire course through her veins.

"I was calling to see if you knew where Lee was."

She smiled at the admiral's reason for calling. "Actually…" she said, pausing for a moment when Lee's persistent lips met the top of her sweatpants. "Actually sir, he's right here."

He finally pulled back and looked up at her in astonishment.

"It's your dad," she said moving her mouth so that she wasn't talking into the phone directly. Repositioning the phone on her ear she asked, "Did you need to talk to him sir?"

"No," he said. "It's just that I realized he had missed his shuttle, and I thought I'd make sure he catches the next one. It leaves in ten minutes."

"Oh," Kara said, her voice losing most of its happiness. "I'll make sure he knows."

"Thank you Kara," were the admiral's last words before Kara heard him hang up.

She leaned over Lee and hung the phone back up on the wall.

"What's wrong?" Lee asked, obviously noticing her change in behavior.

She forced herself to smile. "Nothing." She pulled her tanks back down.

"Hey," he said quietly as he looked up at her. "It's not nothing. What's wrong?"

Kara sighed as she placed her hands on Lee's well-muscled shoulders. "Your have to go."

"What?" he asked, sounding genuinely confused. "You want me to go?"

She shook her head. "No, of course not. But your raptor leaves in ten minutes."

"Oh frak." Lee said. "I completely forgot." He was looking up at her with eyes that were pleading forgiveness.

She gave him a real smile this time. "I'm not mad at you Lee, but you do have to go."

He stood up slowly, but kept his hands on her waist. "I wish I could stay."

Looking in his eyes she saw the truth in his words. The last thing he wanted to do was leave, but really he had no choice. "I wish you could too." Her words were quiet, and one hundred percent sincere. There was nothing she wanted more at that very moment.

Then Lee pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed the top of her head. Kara wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned against him fully. She could get so used to this.

"I don't know when I'll be back next Kara." He sounded sad.

She squeezed him a bit tighter. "I know," she whispered into his chest. "But you're coming back and that's what matters."

He pulled back slightly and kissed her again, but this time on the lips. Then he gave her a gentle smile before pulling out of her hug and heading for the hatch. He briefly glanced over his shoulder and gave her one last smile before he left her office.

She smiled back at him, truly happy for the first time in a long time. He may not be coming back the next day, or even the day after that, but he _was_ coming back. Their lives were too far intertwined for him not to.

The End (for real this time)


End file.
